This hotchpotch compilation
of excerpts from performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden from the early 1980s can be regarded mainly as an
appetizer for those who have not yet decided whether to buy
the complete sets. I am not sure that this is the best method
to recruit proselytes, the problem being that as soon as
one gets involved in the proceedings the scene comes to an
end and is tantalizingly faded out. Maybe that is the point.
Anyway there is a plethora of good singing even though the
choice of scenes does not very often result in thrilling
action. Of course there is a certain thrill in seeing as
well as hearing great singers perform favourite bits and
pieces, and browsing through the heading to this review
is like skimming through opera’s Who’s Who.

Luciana Serra, for instance,
is a perfectly mechanical - this is praise! - Olympia and
her make-up gives her a wax doll look. The otherwise unknown
Marilyn Zschau is a Musetta with charisma and it is a pleasure
to see the very young Barbara Bonney in her signature role
as Sophie. Anne Howells sings well as Octavian, but the close-ups
are very revealing and there is no mistaking her for a young
man, when in the theatre she was probably a believable male
character.

I reviewed the complete Don
Carlo a few months ago and also saw the production
just a few days before the film was shot. I still regard
this as a truly great performance, which is also confirmed
by the two excerpts here with Lima creating the role
of his life. Zancanaro, although fairly wooden as an
actor,
was possibly the best Verdi baritone of the 1980s and
early 1990s. Best of all, there’s Robert Lloyd’s deeply-felt
Philip II. His monologue is, to me at least, the best
reason for acquiring this DVD. Better still, though,
is to get
the complete set.

The other Barbara, Hendricks
of course, is a charming Nannetta and Renato Bruson’s Falstaff
is really spectacular. He sings better than most Falstaffs.

Kiri Te Kanawa’s Marschallin
is a well-known impersonation but as Manon Lescaut she
is almost unrecognizable in the death-scene. Domingo is
great,
both as a singer and an actor and there is also a glimpse
of him in the Hoffmann excerpt.

I have no complaints considering
the quality of sound and pictures. All in all seeing through
this DVD offered an hour of entertaining morsels. I am sure
it will be liked by opera lovers but I still think the complete
sets are better propositions.

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